School Lunch Food Fight

Cindy Zimmerman

schoolA school lunch food fight is underway between House Republicans and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The House Ag Appropriations Subcommittee FY 2015 bill approved this week would establish a waiver program for schools having trouble with provisions of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Subcommittee chairman Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) says the program is resulting in rising costs for schools and wasted food. “While we are concerned about the national problems brought on by childhood obesity, we also have to be sensitive to the challenges of local school districts,” he said.

Earlier this month, Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) spearheaded a bipartisan letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack outlining concerns with the program. “The new rules and regulations are costing (school districts) upwards of $100,000 more a year,” said Davis. “What that means is that they can’t hire two teachers to teach classes … they’re asking for flexibility.” Rep. Rodney Davis comments on school nutrition program

Secretary Vilsack fired back today with a media call featuring retired military leaders to say that undermining the childhood nutrition standards would impact military readiness. He also refuted claims by members of Congress and others that the program is causing food waste, reduced school meal participation, and financial hardship for schools. “Bottom line, I don’t think that politics and politicians should trump good policy established by experts when it comes to the future of our children,” said Vilsack. Also on the call was a school food service director who talked about the success of the program in her district.

Those participating in the media call with Vilsack were William S. Wallace, General, U.S. Army (Retired), James A. “Jamie” Barnett, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired) and School Food Service Director Donna Martin of Burke County, Ga.
USDA School Nutrition media call

Audio, Food, USDA

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

Zimfo Bytes

  • Legend Seeds, Inc. announces completion of an internal restructuring designed to enhance efficiency of the organization’s corporate structure and to better align the company’s talent to their aggressive goals for 2015 and beyond.
  • Charting an important new course for the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA), Theo Camps has been designated inaugural chair of the organization’s first European Chapter.
  • In the fifty-fifth year of the program, 53 college students are exploring career opportunities as GROWMARK summer interns.
  • DuPont Advisory Committee on Agricultural Innovation & Productivity issued an updated progress report on the global food and nutrition landscape.
Zimfo Bytes

Corn Dogs Americans’ Regional Favorite Hot Dog

Jamie Johansen

Screen Shot 2014-05-22 at 12.40.30 PMIn a new survey, corn dogs were the top dog at 46% among consumers who said they have a favorite regional hot dog. New York hot dogs topped with mustard and onions were the second choice at 38% beating out the well-dressed Chicago dog, which were tops among 26% of Americans with a favorite. Chicago dogs feature mustard, onions, relish, tomato slices, a dill pickle spear, a sport pepper and celery salt on a poppy seed bun.

The survey was conducted online in April 2014 among over 2,100 U.S. adults ages 18 and older by Harris Poll for the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC).

“Americans have long loved corn dogs at county and state fairs where they first emerged, but their national popularity surprised us. Historically, they faced tough competition from the hometown favorites in New York and Chicago,” said Janet Riley, NHDSC President and ‘Queen of Wien.’ “We clearly underestimated the allure of the deep fried corn meal batter combined with the snap of the hot dog.”

The difference might be generational, as polling found that among those that have a favorite, corn dogs were the clear favorite amongst 18-34 year olds, with 55 percent choosing corn dogs while for Americans between 55-64 years of age, New York hot dogs remained the favorite.

No matter the age or regional preference, hot dogs will be a popular choice for Americans this summer. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans are expected to eat seven billion hot dogs. Consumption peaks over the Independence Day holiday, when Americans are expected to eat 150 million hot dogs.

Agribusiness, Food, Pork

Alltech Young Scientist Winners

Chuck Zimmerman

Gillian JohnsonThis year over 8,500 students competed in the Alltech Young Scientist competition. That field was narrowed to eight who traveled to the Symposium to present their research papers to a panel of judges.

On stage today, Dr. Mark Lyons and Dr. Inge Russell presented the global undergraduate and graduate awards.

The undergraduate winner is Gillian Johnson, University of Limerick, Ireland. Her research is on Novel β-Defensin Gene Cluster in Horses. She received a check for $5,000.

Lei WangOur global graduate is Lei Wang, West Virginia University, USA.

Here research was a molecular study of egg development in fish. She received a check for $10,000.

All the finalists received a trip to the Symposium and an iPad and trophy. The Twitter hashtag for the Symposium is #AgFuture. That’s very appropriate for this moment when we see Alltech supporting young scientists from all over the world!

2014 Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech, Education, University

Sky Drone Studios

Chuck Zimmerman

Sky Drone StudiosOne of my favorite lines from the Alltech Symposium presentations so far was said by Dr. Pearse Lyons on stage Monday when he asked if a drone could deliver him a beer. That did not happen but he was using it as an example of how we’re learning ways to use new technology like UAV’s to do tasks for us.

During Symposium I met Jeb Smith, Sky Drone Studios, who was displaying and demonstrating his drones and services. Jeb says he’s mainly been working with real estate projects but has also started doing more work with farms. He will take his equipment out to a property and fly it with high definition cameras charging a half day or full day rate. He will provide you with the raw data or edit it into a video presentation for you. He builds his own vehicles too.

I talked with him and got him to demonstrate one of his drones as you will see in the video below, taken with ZimmGlass.

2014 Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Uncategorized

Alltech Precision Agriculture Philosophy and Vision

Chuck Zimmerman

Dr. Karl DawsonChief Scientific Officer for Alltech, Dr. Karl Dawson, caught my attention with his presentation at the Alltech Symposium titled, “What if we put true precision in “Precision Agriculture?” The focus was on animal agriculture, something most people don’t associate with the term precision agriculture. But as you’ll hear him say in an interview I conducted with him it is a very alive and well term in the animal sector too.

Dr. Dawson says the idea behind precision agriculture “is to put together systems that are reproducible and very predictable so that you take a lot of the variability out of agricultural production.” At Alltech he says they’re putting this into practice in the area of feed evaluation. This includes looking at the whole process from crop to ingredients and mixes and what species the feed is intended for.

His vision of the future uses the “What If?” theme of the Symposium. What if you use this material, what will it look like at the end of the day. It’s all about predictive models based on enormous amounts of data processed by computers.

Interview with Dr. Karl Dawson

2014 Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Alltech, Animal Agriculture, Audio

Alltech International Species Forums

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech International Species ForumsDo you have a favorite species? Aqua, Beef, Dairy, Equine, Pet, Poultry or Pig? At the Alltech Symposium this afternoon we have separate moderated forums taking place on each of these topics and one on Agribusiness.

These forums provide an opportunity for attendees to discuss issues with each other which makes for a more interactive experience than just listening to long form presentations. As an example, in the first part of the equine session before a scheduled break the discussion dealt with just one issue – selling high performance feed.

I’ve collected nearly 300 photos from this year’s Symposium and have several more interviews from today to share. The conference closes about mid day tomorrow. You can watch the closing session live starting at 8:30 am. It will feature the Alltech Young Scientist Awards.

2014 Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech, Animal Agriculture

USDA Chinese Trade Mission

Cindy Zimmerman

usda-logoU.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse led a mission to promote U.S. biofuels and agricultural product exports in northeast China May 5-13. The mission was part of President Obama’s “Made in Rural America” export and investment initiative, designed to help rural businesses and leaders take advantage of new investment opportunities and access new customers and markets abroad. Leaders from state departments of agriculture in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Washington participated in the mission, along with representatives from 28 U.S. agribusinesses.

Among those on the trip was National Farmers Union president Roger Johnson who says the mission revealed that the potential ethanol export market in China is substantial. “Demand for ethanol is high, and domestic production meets less than half of their projected ethanol needs,” said Johnson. “However, in order to meet this demand, it is clear that we must first resolve some government regulatory and environmental issues.” Johnson added that there are issues with exports of the ethanol co-product distillers grains (DDGs) to China. “DDG exports to China will likely continue to be difficult and sporadic until China modifies its biotech approval process so it is comparable to that of the rest of the world,” he said.

Johnson participated in a press conference today to discuss the trade mission along with Jim Miller of Growth Energy and Kelly Davis of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) who were also on the trip. China Mission Press Conference Opening Remarks

Audio, Biofuels, Ethanol, Exports, International, USDA

Alltech Founder Dr. Pearse Lyons Reminsces

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 439In this week’s program I’m sharing a conversation with one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech, at the company’s annual Symposium. Since I’ve had the opportunity to attend the annual Alltech Symposiums I’ve told many people that it is the best conference I’ve ever attended that’s put on by a single company. That is still true this year. Dr. Lyons takes a look back at thirty years of putting on this event.

Dr. Pearse Lyons and Trent LoosIn this photo Dr. Lyons is being interviewed by Trent Loos, Loos Tales. I’m betting my interview is better but I’ll have to let you decide.

In my conversation Dr. Lyons also talks about some of the issues being discussed here this week. With a theme of “What if?” it leads to dreams of ways to continue improving both human and animal nutrition. I think you’ll enjoy his ideas.

Listen in here: Dr. Pearse Lyons Reminisces

2014 Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

Subscribe to the ZimmCast podcast here.

Agribusiness, Alltech, Animal Health, Audio, Food, ZimmCast

Alltech Kentucky Night

Chuck Zimmerman

Alltech Kentucky NightThe Alltech Symposium isn’t all just educational sessions. It’s also a time for having fun with friends. Friends from around the world. Here’s a group from Brazil getting together during last night’s Kentucky Night dinner at the Alltech Arena in the Kentucky Horse Park.

My ZimmGlass was a topic of discussion as it has been throughout the event. Most of the attendees from outside the United States haven’t even seen Google Glass since it has only been sold here during the ongoing beta testing phase. So, using ZimmGlass I got a glimpse of what the Kentucky Night party was like.


2014 Alltech Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Alltech, Video